OPRAH Winfrey has made a rare political move ahead of the US midterm elections. But it has not impressed the Vice President, who has made a stunning accusation.

Staff reporters and AP

News Corp Australia NetworkNovember 2, 20189:45am

Oprah Winfrey talks to an audience about the importance of voting in Georgia. Picture: GettySource:Getty Images

OPRAH Winfrey has delivered an impassioned speech in her push to elect America’s first black female governor, as US Vice President Mike Pence took aim at the star for using her fame to influence politics.

Speaking before the Republican-leaning suburbs of Atlanta, Ms Winfrey urged voters to make history by backing Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams in next week’s midterm elections.

Ms Winfrey called Ms Abrams a “changemaker” who represented the values of all Georgians, where Atlanta is the capital city.

“I am here today because Stacey Abrams cares about the things that matter,” she said to a mostly female audience.

Ms Abrams, a Yale-educated lawyer who served a decade in the Georgia Legislature, would be the first black female governor in American history.

She’s sought the post as an unapologetic liberal trying to draw new voters to the polls and prove that Georgia’s growth and diversity make it a legitimate two-party battleground.

She touts her experience working with Republicans as a state legislative leader, but she doesn’t back down on her promises to expand Medicaid insurance, prioritise public education and push for tighter gun restrictions.

Ms Winfrey, who rarely makes political endorsements, drew cheers when she said she’s a registered independent who was not in Georgia at anyone’s request.

“I paid to come here myself, and I approved this message,” she said, explaining that she tracked down Ms Abrams’ phone number and called her to say she wanted to offer assistance in the final days of the campaign.

She also urged against any reboot of recent speculation that she might run for president in 2020. “I’m not here because I’m making some grandstand for myself. I don’t want to run. I’m not testing the waters,” she said.

Ms Winfrey blasted attacks on Ms Abrams that she says she saw in her hotel room — Republican ads casts Ms Abrams as “too extreme” and “radical” for Georgia — as “noise” that is “designed to confound you with fear.”

“Democracy is not just about our individual rights and concerns and our individual protections,” Ms Winfrey said, “but rather it lives and thrives in making sure that everybody is lifted by the community.”

After her speech she noted both women were “just two women from Mississippi.”

As a black woman, Ms Winfrey noted her kinship to two groups historically denied ballot access in the United States. She recalled generations of black Americans who faced “lynching … oppression … suppression,” and declared that “their blood has seeped into my DNA” and forced her to the polls.

She encouraged women of all races — “sisters … not just ‘sistahs,”’ she joked — to remember that they would have been “just a piece of property” with no ballot barely a century ago.

Pence drew boos from the crowd when he mentioned that “Oprah is in town” and noted that actor Will Ferrell was recently in Georgia for Democrats. “I’d like to remind Stacey and Oprah and Will Ferrell, I’m kind of a big deal, too,” Mr Pence said, adding “a message for all Stacey Abrams’ liberal friends: This ain’t Hollywood. This is Georgia.”

Donald Trump, who plans to appear with Mr Kemp later this week told reporters at the White House: “I’ve always liked Oprah.”

“Oprah’s good, but the woman that she’s supporting is not qualified to be the governor of Georgia by any stretch of the imagination.”

More than 1.5 million of the state’s almost 7 million registered voters have cast ballots already.

TRUMP SHOCKS WITH RACIST AD

In what has been described as the most racially charged national political ad in three decades, US President Donald Trump has shared a video likening illegal immigrants to a convicted killer and inferring Democrats are responsible for allowing dangerous criminals into the US.

In the tweet, which is now pinned to the top of his social media feed for his millions of followers to see, it shows a clip of Luis Bracamontes, a twice-deported immigrant from Mexico, smiling menacingly in court and expressing no remorse for his crimes.

Bracamontes was sentenced to death in California for killing two police officers in 2014.

The clip goes on to include scenes of a migrant “caravan”, warning “Who else would Democrats let in?” and claiming “President Donald J. Trump and Republicans are making America safe again!”

As of Thursday night, the ad had been viewed more than 2.2 million times, drawing widespread condemnation.

Mr Trump, and his right-wing Republican base, have been criticised for being “racist”, “hateful”, “shameless”, and for “fearmongering” ahead of the midterm elections in five days time, which will determine whether the GOP retains control of Congress.

“The President of the United States is working to shift the national conversation back to his base’s most impassioned talking point ahead of the midterms … immigration,” Fox40 news reporter Pedro Rivera tweeted.

To no surprise, The President of the United States is working to shift the national conversation back to his base’s most impassioned talking point ahead of the midterms...immigration. In this ad, essentially comparing the migrant caravan to Cop Killer Luis Bracamontes. #Trumphttps://t.co/TdnfXT1z2d

The video is eerily reminiscent of the infamous 1988 “Willie Horton” ad used by supporters of the George HW Bush campaign against Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis and condemned as racist.

Horton was a convicted murderer who committed rape and assault while on a weekend furlough program in 1987 in Massachusetts, which Mr Dukakis supported as the governor of Massachusetts.

The impact of the ad was described as “devastating to Dukakis” but then it later became widely regarded as the most racially problematic political campaign ad ever, as it was designed to appeal to white voters by playing on their stereotyped fears of African-Americans as criminals.

Thirty years ago, George H.W. Bush released his infamous fear-mongering, racist ad on Willie Horton.

Now, scarily, Mr Trump’s attack ad has been slammed as being even worse. Unlike the 1998 “Willie Horton” ad, which was financed and run by the National Security Political Action Committee (NSPAC) as supporters of the Bush campaign and not as a part of the official campaign, Mr Trump’s Bracamontes ad bears the official endorsement of the leader of the Republican Party.